Sun Reporter Charged Over Bribes for U.K. Royal Family Tips

About 17 people have been charged in the police investigation into bribery allegations uncovered as part of a wider probe into wrongdoing at News Corp.’s U.K. newspapers. Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg

April 24 (Bloomberg) -- A reporter at News Corp.’s Sun
newspaper was charged with paying 23,000 pounds ($35,000) in
bribes to a soldier and his wife for stories relating to the
British royal family.

Duncan Larcombe, who was the Sun’s chief royal
correspondent, made 34 payments from 2006 through 2008 to John
Hardy and his wife, Claire, U.K. prosecutors said in a statement
today. John Hardy was a sergeant at the Royal Military Academy
in Sandhurst where Princes William and Harry were commissioned.

About 17 people have been charged in the police
investigation into bribery allegations uncovered as part of a
wider probe into wrongdoing at News Corp.’s U.K. publications.
Prosecutors last week said Fergus Shanahan, the Sun’s executive
editor, should be charged for approving bribes by a journalist
at the tabloid, the U.K.’s largest newspaper.

Hardy, 43, his 39-year old wife and Larcombe, 37, were
charged with conspiring to commit misconduct in public office.

A fourth suspect will also be charged with accepting a
bribe at Sandhurst. Tracy Bell, 34, who was a pharmacy assistant
at the facility’s medical center, received 1,250 pounds between
October 2005 and July 2006 for information that featured in five
Sun articles, prosecutors said.

All four are scheduled to appear at a London criminal court
on May 8. Mary Kearney, a spokeswoman at News Corp.’s U.K. unit,
declined to comment.

62nd Arrest

Police today arrested a 62nd suspect today in the bribery
probe, known as Operation Elveden. Another suspect, a 32-year
old man who was the 52nd person arrested in the investigation,
has been told he won’t face any charges, the Metropolitan Police
said in a statement today.

The Elveden case stems from another police investigation
into the hacking of voicemails known as Operation Weeting. The
hacking affair emerged in 2006 with the arrest of another royal
reporter, Clive Goodman from News Corp.’s now-defunct News of
the World tabloid. Goodman was jailed in 2007 after pleading
guilty.

The newspaper was shuttered in 2011 after it emerged that
the practice was more widespread than the company had previously
claimed.